How do Polish ppl view themselves?

Hi guys,

Just wondering: when I hear my Polish friends talking about being Polish and the country itself (I seem to read this over here as well), it seems like they regard themselves as being somewhat superior or at least better than other cultures and countries. I would like to make this clear once and for all: do the Polish think of themselves as being from a better/worse society/culture/country than other ppl? If yes, on which fact or feeling is this based? Thanks!

M-G (bad mood/headache - but self induced :S )

Who doesn't???

(Even the Dutch hallucinate they were better than the Germans! Says all, really...)

:)

i have the same experiences, however on the otherside of the penny, they also say that we, the British, talk about the rest of the world like everyone is below us.

My Polish friends call it 'British Arrogance' for example when i tell them how much i like england and how England provides a good place fo people to come and get educated they say that i'm being arrogant and thats not true at all. then five minutes later i here them talking about the muslims and russians like their apes compared to the Polish, how confusing!!

thnx

T

I'm not someone special. I'm just a little bit different. Not in a good or a bad way. ...just a little bit different.

I've never compared myself to english ppl.

Tornado is making a good point there: I noticed that too. They are fully on their qui vivre about not being put below other nationalities and at the same time they look down on, indeed, muslims, Russians and so on. It's a bit double, therefore I wanted to get it clear how the sit actually is. And what better place to do this than a Polish forum? :)

M-G

Every country/ethnic groups thinks it's superior to other groups! It's called nationalism.

exactly... or jingoism

I feel with Polish people, especially abroad, it's not that we believe we're superior or that Poland is better than any other nation, it's just that Poland, while important historically, is very ignored in today's political/cultural atmosphere. I'm speaking from an American perspective but where comparable immigrant groups like Irish and Italians are celebrated and focused on (if you don't believe me, remind yourself what day next Monday is), Poland is like another planet that nobody knows about. Often times, I've gone too far with my "Polishness" for this reason. It's not that were arrogant (or at least I try not to be) its just that we are proud to be Polish, even if nobody else cares.

Its kind of ridiculous actually, but that's definitely true! This is especially true of European nations that pride themselves on their ancestor's historical achievements.

Find me an Italian that doesn't think Italy is the best place, has the best women, best food, best culture etc....
Same thing with a French person, or a Dutch person, or a Polish person.
I mean you'll find some people that aren't very nationalistic, but I doubt that would be the norm.

America is pretty notorious for this also.


I think that notions of 'British Snobbery' or 'British Arrogance' are associated with the nation's history of colonization. The very concept of colonization is based on the concept that X nation is better than Y nation, therefore we have a right to take over. However, colonialism officially ended in the 1960s and other nations have been slowly recovering from this idea of Britain as an 'evil colonizer'. These days, its more about America's imperial policies and notions of supremacy that has a lot of nations in the world p*ssed off.

...

You seem unjustifiably surprised.

This is true of everyone, from the Portuguese to the Chinese.